Along with Shakur, Motown songwriting-production team Holland Dozier Holland will be honored as well as pop songbird Katy Perry. Actor Giancarlo Esposito and PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley will also receive stars.

In an interview with VIBETV, journalist-activist Kevin Powell, who befriended Shakur in the early '90s, described the rapper as a cross between N.W.A. and Public Enemy.

"To me, Pac was always a consistent man," he said. "He was always someone who kept it 100 all the time, always spoke his mind."